


The Birds and the Bullets

by Wrespawn



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Gen, Hugs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:21:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21649750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wrespawn/pseuds/Wrespawn
Summary: After Jeremy learns the big secret of the Fakes’ immortality, he’s got a lot of questions for them.  It’s time for some awkward conversations.  This is a direct sequel to Respawn.Warnings: References to violent deaths, angst.  This story ends with reconciliation.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 118





	The Birds and the Bullets

The couch was a familiar comfort under Jeremy’s body. A headache was tapping softly on his skull. Jeremy grunted softly and blinked his eyes open as the ceiling swum into focus.

A pulse of deja vu gripped his half-awake mind. Something quiet, and smooth, and white, and also something very very bad. Jeremy looked blearily at the ceiling, eyes barely open. It felt familiar to be waking up on his back, staring at the ceiling.

He’d woken up in the respawn machine this way.

Suddenly, his eyes were wide open. 

He was lying on the couch in the living room in HQ. He could hear someone bustling in the kitchen. It was all so familiar, so normal. Jeremy grabbed at surreal memories, struggling to make sense of them. The sleek white room, the spare bodies, Ryan pointing a gun at his head… Fuck, was it even real? Did he just drink too much and dream it all up?

“You’re awake!”

Jeremy was snapped out of his thoughts by Jack’s familiar voice. She was striding out of the kitchen with a bright smile, normal as ever. Jeremy winced as he sat up, his head pulsing at the motion.

“Hey, Jack.”

… The chip. Jeremy’s hand shot to his neck. His heart skipped a beat as he found the small spot of pain where a chip had been injected under his skin. Shit. It was real. The respawn room was real.

The motion hadn’t been lost on Jack. She smiled gently as she sat on the couch next to him.

“Yes,” she answered his unasked question. “That really happened. You didn’t imagine it.”

“I-it doesn’t _feel_ real,” Jeremy admitted. “God, I… I fucking _died._ And came back.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Physically, I’m okay, I guess. Jesus, do you always feel hungover after you…” Jeremy stumbled over the new word, like a gun he wasn’t used to handling. “… after you respawn?”

Jack giggled. “No, I’m pretty sure that’s from you landing on your head when you passed out. Respawning should feel like waking up from a nice nap. You want some tea?”

“Yeah.” Jeremy rubbed his head, wincing when he found a bump. “I could go for that.”

Jack kissed his forehead and stood up. “Give a shout if you need a hug.”

With that she strode away, slipping back into the kitchen. Jeremy sat up properly on the couch, legs hanging off the edge. He could see her through the kitchen door, getting mugs out of the cupboard.

The Fakes couldn’t die. He couldn’t wrap his head around it. Every heist, every shootout with the cops… the Fakes dove into violence like demons because they didn’t fear death. And even if they died… even if they caught a sniper bullet, or fell off a building, or got into a horrific vehicle crash… they’d just come back. A strange queasiness was building in Jeremy’s stomach as he replayed old police reports in his head. He was growing more and more certain by the minute that the Fakes had all died before. Five faces flashed through his mind one by one, his family. They had all violently _died_ before.

A memory was creeping at the corners of Jeremy’s mind. Aircraft alarm bells. 

“…Jack?” he called, his voice suddenly shaky.

“Yes, honey?”

“Y-you died when the jet went down, didn’t you?”

Jack froze. With her back to him, he couldn’t tell what expression passed over her face.

“…Yes,” she admitted.

Jeremy let out a weak breath and let his face fall into his hands. The alarms of a damaged aircraft. The shaking fear in Jack’s voice. The last moment of panic before her com went silent. She died and he’d been listening. Jeremy lifted his head, needing to see her again. There she was, alive, fussing with the tea. The soft liquid noise of hot water pouring into cups was the only sound in the room.

Jeremy’s voice came out small. “… Did it hurt?”

There was a soft clink as Jack picked up the teacups. When she turned around, a steaming cup in each hand, she was smiling.

“Not at all!”

“Jack, _please._ I’m already fucked up, just tell me the truth.”

“I’m not sugarcoating it, Jeremy, it really didn’t hurt.” Jack crossed the room and set the mugs down on the coffee table before sitting next to him. Her hand found his, warm from holding the hot mug. “It was instant. That kind of death usually is.”

Jeremy squeezed her hand as though he didn’t intend to let go. “G-god, I can’t believe it… I mean, I could always tell that the Fakes weren’t afraid to take crazy risks, but I didn’t think…”

Jack picked up her mug of tea without letting go of Jeremy’s hand. “Honestly? Vehicle crashes are my favorite way to go.” It was surreal how conversational her tone was. “They’re always instant if you’re going fast enough. And you get a hell of an adrenaline rush.”

Jeremy’s face must have said what his words were failing to say. A look of worry crossed Jack’s expression. She set down her mug and spread her arms.

“Come here.”

Jeremy practically launched himself into her arms. He buried his face in her hair, taking deep breaths, his hands grabbing at her shirt.

“I-it scared me,” he admitted.

“I’m fine.” Jack’s hand rubbed his back as she held him close. “I was ready for it when it happened. It didn’t hurt. I did my part during the heist, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”

Jeremy squeezed her tighter. “I-it’s not always quick, though, is it? You’ve died slow before?”

Jack took a long breath before replying. “Yes, I’ve died slow before.”

“F- _fuck._ ”

“Jeremy, honey, it’s not… I know it sounds bad, but…” Jack swallowed. “…I’m just… I’m sorry we hid it from you.”

Jeremy took a long breath. “…It would have _ruined_ me in the heist,” he admitted, the words muffled against Jack’s shoulder.

Someone coughed awkwardly.

Jeremy pulled back from the hug. Geoff stood at the other end of the living room, hovering by the threshold as though not sure if he was allowed to be there.

“…Hey,” he began, his voice cracking on the word. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Uh, you’ve probably got questions.”

Jack squeezed Jeremy’s hand. “Do you want me to stay?”

“Nah.” Jeremy picked up his tea and took a sip. The sweet warmth calmed his nerves. “I think me and Geoff need to talk.”

He felt Jack’s hand slip out of his, heard her receding footsteps. Jeremy stared into his cup of tea. The couch dipped as Geoff sat next to him.

“…When the Skeptics ambushed us, I tried to take a bullet for Gavin,” Jeremy began. He rubbed a hand over his face. “I would have died if I’d been shot, but he… wouldn’t have. Fuck. No wonder he was freaking out.”

Geoff fidgeted. “We really thought you’d be safe at that shooting range. We shouldn’t have let you get that close to danger.”

“That’s why we raided the Skeptics, wasn’t it? Because they took a shot at me?”

“Yeah.”

“And this is why you left me behind.” Jeremy tapped the small cut where the chip had been implanted in his neck. “You couldn’t put me in the field until I was immortal.”

“I’m sorry,” Geoff murmured.

Jeremy sighed. “For leaving me behind? No, I get it. You didn’t want me to die.”

“No, I’m sorry for the lying. For making you worry. For the fucking coverups.” Geoff rubbed his hand over his arm, avoiding Jeremy’s gaze. “It felt wrong even while I was doing it. I’m sorry. The whole crew is.”

Jeremy’s gaze was on the floor. “…Is there anything else?”

“What?”

“Did you hide anything else from me?” Jeremy lifted his gaze, setting his tea down on the table. “Let’s just get it all out now. Jack died and you pretended she didn’t. Is there anything else?”

Words didn’t come easily to Geoff. He swallowed a few times before speaking.

“…Michael didn’t make it either. Those were our two casualties on that raid.”

Alarmed confusion overtook Jeremy for a moment. “…What? B-but I talked to him. He came home, he—” 

“He’d been shot in the gut. Gavin had to put him down.”

“P-put him…” Jeremy rubbed a hand over his eyes. “F-fuck. He was talking to me like he was fine. Holy shit.”

“He didn’t want you to watch him die like… like you had to watch Jack die.” Geoff took a long breath. “God, Jeremy, I’m— I’m so sorry. I swear that’s everything.”

Jeremy had to take a few deep breaths before he could speak. _Your crew died around you and you didn’t even notice._ “W-why’d you do it? Why’d you wait so long to tell me?”

“Does it matter? I fucked up, no excuses.”

“Tell me _why.”_

For a moment, Geoff stared at the floor. Jeremy could almost see the man organizing his words.

“…Getting added to the respawn room is a commitment,” he began. “A life-changing one. We thought, before you signed on for that, you should at least get to experience a heist so you’d know if this was really the life for you. We couldn’t put you on the front lines, of course, but… I don’t know, it felt wrong to put you in the machine before you felt what it was like to be a Fake.”

“And you thought, what, you could just hide your deaths from me? It was a fucking raid, you had to know someone could die.”

“We figured we’d roll with it. That’s our style, anyway. Make it up as we go, make sure you didn’t have to see anything bad. It just felt so important that you get to experience a heist.”

Jeremy’s jaw twitched. “You could have said something. Maybe ‘by the way, Jeremy, we _literally can’t die_.’”

“Would you have believed me if you hadn’t come back to life yourself?”

Words lodged in Jeremy’s throat. The question sounded sincere, like Geoff was begging for a way out. A way he could have done things better. 

“…No,” Jeremy said at last. With a frustrated grunt, he turned away. “Shit, no, I wouldn’t. I didn’t believe it when I saw your spare body in that pod. If you’d told me you were immortal so I shouldn’t worry, I… I think I would have worried even more.”

“I still regret it,” Geoff admitted. “We should have told you what we were before you had to watch us die. We should have… fuck, we should have found a better way.”

It took a warm sip of tea and a few long, deep breaths before Jeremy was ready to say his next words. “…Hey, Geoff?”

“Yeah?”

“I forgive you, okay? I forgive the whole crew.” Jeremy let out a long sigh, setting the teacup down on the table with a _clink_. “Yeah, it sucked, but you guys were trying your best, and you tried to fix it when it got shitty. There’s still nowhere else I’d rather be than here with the Fakes.”

“…Is it cool if we hug it out?” Geoff murmured.

Jeremy yanked him into a rough hug. Geoff tensed in surprise for a moment, then returned it with heartbreaking intensity. He whispered warm words against Jeremy’s shoulder.

“I’m so happy to have you here.” He squeezed tighter. “I’m so so glad you joined our family.”

Jeremy swallowed. “G-good, because you’re not getting rid of me. I’m fuckin’ unkillable now. I’m a damn cockroach.”

Geoff made a noise like he was trying to laugh but wasn’t quite ready for it.

“…There’s not a second secret room, is there?” Jeremy asked. “Like a time machine or some shit?”

Finally, Geoff managed a real laugh. “Nah, no time machine. You’ve got all our secrets now.” He pulled back, but kept his hands on Jeremy’s arms. “Come on, I’m sure the rest of the crew wants to hug it out with you too. Let’s go find them.”

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “Now that I’m a freakish immortal god, are you gonna stop babying me?”

Geoff’s laugh was more confident as he stood. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m gonna stop babying you, I promise.” He held out a hand. “You’re Rimmy fucking Tim of the Fake AH Crew. The only thing I’m gonna do is unleash you on the world and step out of the way.”

Jeremy let Geoff haul him off the couch, then gave him a playful shove. “Step out of the way? Come on. The Kingpin had better be by my side.”

“Ha. If you make me cry, you’re fired.” Geoff straightened his shirt collar. “…But if you make Ryan cry, I’ll give you a raise.”

“Heh, I’ll try.” Jeremy suddenly groaned and rubbed a hand over his face. “Fuck, _that’s_ why he was so weird after the heist. And there I was being all ‘don’t die on me’ like a sappy idiot. God, he’s gonna give me so much shit.”

“Hey, if he’s smug about it, you know what you can do?”

“What?”

With a smile, Geoff dragged a finger like a knife across his throat. “Kill him. He’ll come back.”

“H-ha, good one.” Jeremy cleared his throat. “So, this immortality shit… it’s not all business, right? It’s gotta have some fun parts.”

“Oh, Jeremy, I can’t _wait_ to show you how much.”


End file.
